Sixth Form Aims
Bishop's Stortford College's vision is for education to be an exciting, uplifting and liberating experience, a process that unlocks a world of opportunity and gives students a lifelong appetite for knowledge and understanding, a curiosity about the world and a delight in it.
We aim to balance the pursuit of excellence with wholehearted participation in a stunning range of opportunities so that students become creative, self-confident and caring young men and women, ready to contribute positively to society and play a full part in it. In the Sixth Form, we achieve these aims through:
Flexibility
The core principle is that every Sixth Former is an individual, whose personal and academic programmes will be distinctive and tailored to his or her specific needs and talents. In academic terms, this is achieved through the range of opportunity and choice offered by our A Level programme. We aim to provide as much flexibility as possible within our blocking system of 24 subjects plus the EPQ.
Academic support
Each Sixth Former’s development is monitored by the Head of Sixth Form and the dedicated Sixth Form team, with a view to raising standards, aspirations and expectations, and supporting individual needs where they arise.
The support given by the excellent Higher Education and Careers Department, unrivalled by other schools, is at the heart of the very successful UCAS history of College Sixth Formers.
Each individual is supported through the specialist academic tutorial structure, through teams that specialise in Oxbridge preparation and the support needed for Medical and Vet Science applications.
Community
Every opportunity is taken to prepare the Sixth Former for the challenges of leadership in the fast-moving global environment which they will enter as they join the Sixth Form and which will be the adult world in which they live once they leave. The powerful Sixth Form community achieves this through the integration of the two year-groups, especially through the regular Sixth Form social events (organised and run by Sixth Form students), and by using the Sixth Form Social Centre as a meeting and relaxing place. All Sixth Formers will be expected to take on increased responsibility for themselves and, through the College’s leadership programme, for others.
In addition, the influx of dynamic new Sixth Formers from a diverse range of backgrounds enriches both the academic and social experience for the Sixth Former.
The corner stone of the College community is the House System. All students are allocated to one of the ten Houses and this becomes their home during their time here.
